Fareed Zakaria and Paula Throckmorton Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria and Paula Throckmorton Zakaria

It's a gloomy day for both weather and news. The front page of the Times has a gruesome account of a massacre inside Kosovo; beside it are reports of diplomatic offers from Belgrade via Jesse Jackson and the Russians. The two sides of Milosevic: brutality and guile. He's much smarter than Saddam and almost as brutal. Though the administration seems to be looking for an out, I don't think Chernomyrdin's talks with Clinton will lead to anything. On the key issue--an armed force with some NATO troops--Milosevic seems unyielding. Without that, I can't imagine the refugees will ever go back. (Even with it, many might not.)

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Meanwhile, the non-war war continues. Even though NATO is stepping up the heat, it still seem to be bombing only factories, power stations, and bridges. In other words, large stationary objects, easily identified from 30,000 feet in the sky. They have hit few tanks, armored cars, or troop dugouts in Kosovo. NATO has flown 12,000 sorties and lost only three planes. Either this is the most effective air campaign in history or they're flying so high that they don't endanger either planes or pilots. Humanitarianism all right, but toward NATO's soldiers, not Kosovar civilians.

Did you find anything more cheerful in the paper? And how was the coffee?

Fareed Zakaria, Slate's wine columnist, is also managing editor of Foreign Affairs and a contributing editor of Newsweek. Paula Throckmorton Zakaria designs jewelry and writes occassionally for the Wall Street Journal and other publications. She was president and publisher of The Black Book, a photography journal and sourcebook based in New York.